The invention is in the field of collapsible tables and relates particularly to collapsible tables of the kind particularly suitable for product demonstrations and displays.
One merchandizing technique is to promote a product at a temporary demonstration and display set up in a store or a shopping mall where a demonstrator shows potential customers what the product is and perhaps how it can be used and where it can be bought. Typically, the demonstrator is at the location only temporarily and needs a temporary demonstration table or counter and perhaps a temporary display backboard. Sometimes such demonstrators can make temporary use of counter space which is normally used for other purposes. However, it is believed that usually it is undesirable to disrupt the normal use to which such counter space is put and, accordingly, typically a temporary table or a similar temporary structure is be set up especially for the demonstration and is later taken down. There are certain desirable but often incompatible features of such a temporary structure. For example, the structure should be light, so that it could be carried easily but at the same time it should provide a stable and sturdy table surface and, in addition, should look that way to give the visual appearance of quality. The structure should be small when not in use so that it could be stored and transported easily but when in use should have a large table top, to afford the demonstrator a large working surface, and should have a large display backboard so that it could be seen from afar and so that enough merchandise and/or directions and/or literature can be supported on the backboard. The structure should be easy and fast to assemble and disassemble, preferably without the need for any tools, but its components should be tightly and securely held together both when the structure is stored or transported and when it is used by a demonstrator.
An object of the invention, therefore, is to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art in meeting these and other conflicting requirements and to provide a demonstration table and a backboard which are particularly suited for a wide variety of displays and demonstrations at locations such as stores and shopping malls, which is particularly convenient to carry, set up and disassemble by one person, and which is particularly effective for its purpose.
In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, these and other objects of the invention are met by a structure which comprises a self-contained, collapsible demonstration table with a backboard which can be conveniently changed manually between a closed, suitcase-like structure that is easily stored and carried and a table with a large table top and an upstanding display backboard. The structure has a housing made up of a first shell and a second shell each of which has a hinge side and a free side separated from each other by a table portion having an inner side and an outer side. A shell hinge secures the hinge sides of said shells to each other to allow the shells to pivot between an open position in which the outer sides of said table portions of the shells form a substantially flat table top and a closed position in which the shells form a closed, suitcase-like package in which the inner sides of said table portions are spaced from each other to enclose an interior space. The structure further includes two leaves each having a hinge end and a free end, with a leaf hinge securing the hinge ends of said leaves to each other to allow the leaves to pivot between an open position in which said leaves form a display backboard and a folded position in which said leaves are folded flat against each other. To use the backboard for display, the housing has a backboard engaging means for detachably securing said backboard in a display position in which said backboard extends up from said table top. To secure the backboard to the shells for carrying and storage, the housing has a leaf engaging means for engaging said leaves when in their folded position to support them against the table portion of one of said shells when the shells are in their closed position. Each of the shells has leg engagement means at its inner side, and there are at least three legs each of which comprises an upper and a lower section which are secured to each other and to a respective leg engagement means by a respective resilient means which urges the respective leg sections and leg supporting means toward each other. When the respective leg sections and leg engagement means are aligned the two sections of each leg detachably interfit to form a leg and the legs detachably interfit with the respective leg engagement means to thereby support said table. The legs can be detached from said leg engagement means and the sections of each leg can be detached from each other by hand against the urging of said resilient means. The shells have at their inner sides leg section braces to detachably secure said leg sections flat against the inner sides of said shells when the leg sections are detached from each other. The suitcase-like package can be conveniently converted manually to a demonstration table with an upstanding display backboard by the steps of manually detaching the leaves, pivoting the shells to their open positions to form said table top, and detaching said leg sections from said braces and interfitting them with each other and with said leg engagement means to form table legs supporting the table top and pivoting the leaves to form said backboard and securing the backboard to said backboard engaging means. The table and backboard can be collapsed to form said closed, suitcase-like package by carrying out said steps in reverse order. Each of said shells includes a handle portion at its free end. These handle portions interfit when the shells are in their closed position to form a carrying handle. Straps of a material such as Velcro are secured to the free end of at least one of said shells for detachably engaging the other shell when the shells are in their closed position to keep said package closed. The free ends of the shells are rounded and said hinge ends are substantially flat so that when the shells are in their closed position the flat ends form a base on which the package can sit and said rounded ends form a rounded upper end of the package. The structure includes a drawer which is below the said table top when the shells are in their open position and fits within said interior space between the table portions when the shells are in their closed position.